New York Times Company (The) (NYT) Stock Price & How to Invest

The New York Times Company publishes The New York Times and operates a family of subscription products around it: the core news report, Games (Wordle, Connections, the Crossword), NYT Cooking, the sports site The Athletic, the product-recommendation site Wirecutter, and a growing audio and video slate. Almost all of the money comes from consumers rather than distributors: subscription revenue was about $481 million of the roughly $763 million the company took in during the quarter ended June 30, 2026, with digital-only subscriptions alone at about $408 million. Advertising (about $134 million in the quarter, now majority digital) and affiliate, licensing and other revenue (about $76 million, including Wirecutter referral fees and AI content licensing) fill in the rest. Print still exists and still declines, but it is a shrinking tail on a digital business.

The investment picture in 2026 is a growth story running into a spending question. Trailing twelve-month revenue is around $2.90 billion with net income near $382 million, and the company ended 2025 with roughly $1.2 billion in cash and marketable securities and no debt, which is rare in media. Digital subscribers reached about 12.8 million (roughly 13.35 million total) after about 280,000 net digital adds in the June 2026 quarter, and management has pointed to 15 million subscribers by 2027. Yet the shares fell sharply in early August 2026, trading near $63.80 and about 26% below the April 2026 high of $85.86, because adjusted operating costs rose about 10% against guidance of 8% to 9%, free cash flow margin collapsed to roughly 1.3% from 15.1% a year earlier, and third-quarter digital subscription revenue guidance of 12% to 15% implied deceleration. The bull and bear cases both start from the same fact: this is a durable, cash-generative franchise being deliberately reinvested in video, audio and AI-era distribution, and reasonable people disagree on whether that spending buys the next decade or just compresses the next few years.

The most immediate risk is cost discipline: adjusted operating costs rose about 10% year over year in the June 2026 quarter against guidance of 8% to 9%, and free cash flow margin dropped to roughly 1.3% from 15.1%, which is what actually triggered the roughly 15% single-day fall in early August 2026. Growth is decelerating from here, with third-quarter digital subscription revenue guided to 12% to 15% and consensus revenue growth for the next twelve months near 7.3%, so a business priced for compounding now has to defend a slower number. AI-generated answers and chat interfaces sit between the Times and its readers, and while licensing deals like the Amazon agreement monetize that shift, the search and social referral channels that once fed the funnel keep shrinking. Advertising remains cyclical and would be an early casualty of a consumer or ad-market downturn, while print revenue and print advertising continue to decline structurally. Finally, the dual-class structure keeps voting control with the Ochs-Sulzberger family through Class B shares, so outside shareholders have limited influence on strategy, and editorial and political controversy is a reputational variable that can affect both subscriber churn and advertiser appetite in a way that does not show up in a spreadsheet until it does.

9 analysts publish price targets on NYT, averaging $83.44 against a $65.48 price as of August 2026, or +27.4%. The published targets run from $66.00 to $95.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 6 buy, 4 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 5 raises and 1 cut among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full NYT forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on New York Times Company (The). Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. The bundle and subscriber compounding. The all-access bundle is the engine: news plus Games, Cooking, The Athletic and Wirecutter in one subscription, which raises retention and lifts average revenue per user as promotional subscribers roll onto full price. The most optimistic published target, $95.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The most immediate risk is cost discipline: adjusted operating costs rose about 10% year over year in the June 2026 quarter against guidance of 8% to 9%, and free cash flow margin dropped to roughly 1.3% from 15.1%, which is what actually triggered the roughly 15% single-day fall in early August 2026. The most pessimistic target, $66.00, is roughly what NYT is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on NYT, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see New York Times Company (The)'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$2.90 billion, with the June 2026 quarter at ~$762.5 million, up ~11.2% year over year
• Net income (TTM): ~$382 million; June 2026 quarter adjusted EPS ~$0.69 versus ~$0.58 a year earlier
• Subscribers: ~12.8 million digital-only (~13.35 million total) after ~280,000 net digital adds; digital ARPU ~$9.94
• Profitability: Adjusted operating profit margin ~20.4% in the June 2026 quarter, up ~90 basis points; full-year 2025 adjusted operating profit ~$550 million
• Balance sheet: ~$1.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at end-2025 and no debt; quarterly dividend $0.23 per share
• Market pricing: Shares ~$63.80 for a market value near $10 billion, roughly 26% below the April 2026 high of $85.86

Figures are approximate and tied to August 2026; check live data before acting on any of them. At roughly $63.80 the stock carries a trailing price-to-earnings ratio in the high twenties on ~$382 million of trailing net income, which is a growth multiple applied to a business the market now expects to grow revenue closer to 7% than 11%. The clearest way to read the valuation is as a bet on whether the reinvestment cycle in video, audio and AI distribution converts back into free cash flow, because the June 2026 quarter showed margin expansion at the adjusted-operating line and a collapse at the cash-flow line at the same time.

Other names that sit close to NYT: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get NYT exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so NYT sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where NYT fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

The New York Times has already won the paid-news land grab, so the stock now turns on whether the bundle keeps compounding subscribers and pricing faster than the cost of video, audio and AI-era investment, not on whether print survives.

Whether NYT is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is NYT a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the NYT stock forecast.

For income investors, whether NYT pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does NYT pay a dividend? And to weigh NYT against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: NYT vs GOOGL and NYT vs AMZN.